30 Days of Blogging, Day 10: A picture that makes you happy

This is a picture of my mom and dad that I took several years ago, before my dad's health started declining.  We were having lunch at a barbecue restaurant in Boise.  I was on sabbatical that October and visiting home so I could attend his 80th birthday party that weekend.

My dad is not the type of guy to stick out his tongue when you take his picture.  He was a drill sergeant in the Army.  He was a serious bad-ass and a very strict father. But for some reason, he decided to stick out his tongue that day. And he managed to do it at the very last minute, without me seeing what he'd done.

When I reviewed the picture on my camera, I just started laughing.  "Did you actually stick out your tongue?" I asked him.

He was laughing too hard to answer.